Author's note: Thank you kindly to my beta.
The Cave
"You're turning into Dad," observed Virgil amicably.
"He's right, you really are!" agreed Gordon.
"I am not turning into Dad," said Scott, as patient as always with his brothers. "All I said was that I need to finish reading these Tracy Corp papers before I can join your judo tournament."
"They can wait, surely?" said Gordon with a hint of pleading in his voice.
"I told Dad I'd check these over before we talk about them tomorrow."
"Well, just do it later," said Virgil. "I mean, you'll probably get knocked out in the first round anyway so you'll have plenty of time."
Gordon laughed at Virgil's attempt to appeal to Scott's competitive side. Scott remained calm.
"Start without me and I'll get there when I can."
Alan arrived in the kitchen where his brothers were gathered.
"Okay," he said, "It's all set up, we're good to go."
"Scott's got some work he's gotta do," Gordon informed him.
"Geez, you're turning into Dad!" said Alan to Scott.
"That's what I said!" exclaimed Virgil while Gordon laughed again.
"Get lost, the lot of you," said Scott evenly.
"Why are these papers so vitally important, anyway?" said Virgil.
"You know what Dad's like when he's in a succession planning mood," said Scott.
"What's succession planning?" asked Alan.
Gordon stood up. "I'll explain along the way. Come on. Scott, you can take Virg's place when I've beaten him into submission."
"Deal."
"Hey!" said Virgil indignantly.
Virgil, Gordon and Alan left the room talking noisily and Scott was left in peace. He looked down at the folders in front of him. Then he glanced towards the door and thought how much fun wiping the smiles off his brothers' faces would be. Duty won the day and he started work as Kyrano quietly came into the kitchen.
"Any chance of some coffee, Kyrano? I think it's going to be a long afternoon."
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Scott did not make it to the judo match and had to tolerate a few sour remarks from his brothers over dinner that evening.
The next afternoon he spent with his father working through some Tracy Corp business. He did enjoy learning from his Dad and was determined to get a handle on what it was like to run a large corporation.
At the same time, he was still very much a man of action and sitting at a desk for extended periods of time was frustrating. It had been quiet recently on the International Rescue front with some weeks having passed since the last call out. He knew that his brothers were making the most of the downtime and beautiful weather. Virgil had been sketching on the beach, John in Thunderbird 5 had been devoting time to astronomy and his two youngest brothers had been, in his opinion, messing about and coming up with schemes to disrupt and annoy him.
Towards the end of the afternoon he was still sitting at his father's desk when Gordon and Alan burst into the lounge in a state of excitement.
"We found a cave!" said Gordon, without preamble.
"Scott, you have to come and look!" said Alan.
"What's all this about?" asked Jeff, removing his reading glasses and rubbing his eyes.
Scott looked sceptical. "I thought we'd found all the caves on the island?"
"Think again!" said Alan, triumphantly.
Gordon explained. "You know the crater where we practice abseiling?" He was referring to a deep, steep-sided natural circular basin about 40 metres across where the brothers had done some training on abseiling and climbing to help them be more efficient with their equipment on rescues.
At Scott's nod, Gordon continued. "Well, we were both at the bottom and were pretty hot so we thought we'd sit out of the sun for a minute. We started to pull some of the vegetation aside to make a shady area and we found a cave. It's not huge but it's really dry and well-formed. You should come and see!"
"Yeah, come on Scott," said Alan, already turning to leave.
"I'm in the middle of something, here, in case you hadn't noticed," said Scott.
"This is much more interesting," said Gordon, grinning.
Jeff interrupted them. "Boys! I don't know if you've realised but it's only 30 minutes until dinner and Scott and I still have to finish up."
"But Dad, it'll be dark after dinner," said Alan.
A crestfallen-looking Gordon grabbed Alan's arm. "Come on, it's no use. And we should get that equipment packed up."
"Fine," replied Alan, a touch sulkily, and allowed Gordon to pull him out of the lounge.
When they were out of earshot Alan continued. "Scott's turning into Dad 2."
Gordon smiled. "'The return of the revenge of the curse of Dad: a sequel starring Scott Tracy.' Our brother is getting old before his time but don't worry, I'm formulating a plan."
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Scott had good radar for little brothers being up to mischief and over the next couple of days he was feeling uneasy. He started checking behind him at odd moments and being wary as he entered his bedroom in case something jumped out at him. Gordon and Alan had gone quiet and were no longer nagging him to join them. Even Virgil didn't have much to say to him. Still, with a business video conference with his Dad, and Brains keen to discuss a new invention, he was busy enough.
He had all but shaken his weird feeling when there was an odd conversation at breakfast between his Dad and Virgil. Virgil was taking his cereal bowl over to the dishwasher when he spoke.
"Father, remember I'm doing a short launch of Thunderbird 2 today, mid-morning. I'll let you know when I'm ready."
"Okay, Virgil. Not too long in the air, remember. Security first and foremost."
"Yes, sir."
Scott's ears pricked up. "Why the launch?"
Virgil did not meet Scott's eyes as he opened the dishwasher. "I've just been doing a bit of work on the ram jet air intake and I just want to do a test launch to clear things out and make sure that we're good for the next rescue."
"Right, I didn't realise you were doing that. Shall I come with you for back up?"
"I can launch Two on my own, you know."
"Yes, but if it's a test then it's better to double up on crew."
"Scott," said his father, "Brains said he could really do with your help in his lab this morning. I'll keep a firm eye on Virgil, don't you worry."
"Oh, okay." Scott was a little disappointed at being dismissed so easily. Maybe he had been ignoring Virgil too much lately and Virgil was irritated. He should probably make more effort to spend time with him. Deep in thought he returned to his breakfast.
By late morning he was getting rather fed up. Brains had got him to help with some tedious, long- winded testing on his new invention, testing that Scott had remarked could work just as well automated. He was thinking about his lunch and trying to pay attention to Brains so was much relieved when Gordon turned up.
"Scott, are you busy? I could use your help."
"What with?"
"Well, Al and I were doing some abseiling and I was teaching Al a new technique and he kinda got jumbled in the ropes. He's stuck halfway down and I could use an extra pair of hands to get him free."
"For Pete's sake, what are you two like? Brains, are you okay if I go?"
"Sh..Sure thing, Scott."
Scott and Gordon headed out to the abseiling basin, Scott berating Gordon for putting Alan in danger. Gordon didn't retaliate and directed Scott to where he and Alan had been climbing. There seemed to be a lot of equipment lying about for just the two of them but Scott was more worried about Alan and strode over to the edge and peered over.
"Al? You okay?" He looked down and saw Alan waving up at him, safe and sound, standing at the base of the rope.
Scott turned, confused, to Gordon. "He looks okay to me."
Gordon looked down. "Well, look at that. He must have got himself free. Good for him. While you're here you might as well come down anyway and we can show you the cave."
Scott folded his arms. "Was this all some cunning ruse to get me to look at your wretched cave? You know what happened to the boy that cried wolf?"
Gordon looked indignant. "As if I would lie about Alan being in trouble. He did get stuck but, come to think of it, that was a couple of days ago and I got him free myself. "
"Gordon!"
"Where would you rather be? In Brains's lab or out here? Be honest!"
Scott's frown melted into a smile. "I could use some outdoor exercise."
Alan's voice floated up to them. "Come on down, the price is right!"
Scott laughed, glad to be out in the fresh air, and 20 minutes later he and Gordon had joined Alan at the foot of the rope.
"Come see the cave!" said Alan, leading the way.
"Okay, okay," said Scott. "Hey, what can I smell? It smells like…."
"Virgil cooking us lunch," replied Gordon.
Scott turned to him. "Huh?"
Gordon and Alan bundled him through some greenery and the sight ahead stunned him. There, indeed, was the cave as promised but it wasn't bare and empty. Instead it had been decorated with balloons and streamers among which stood Jeff, Grandma, Tin Tin, Kyrano, Lady Penelope and Parker. Beside the cave Virgil was standing over a barbeque managing steak, fish and vegetable kebabs.
"What the…?" said Scott, bewildered.
"Happy Birthday, big brother," smiled Virgil, nodding his head towards a table piled high with presents along with a large cake, rather predictably in the shape of Thunderbird 1.
Scott frowned and furrowed his brow, clearly doing some mental calculation. Suddenly he smiled.
"It's my birthday!" Everyone cheered and gathered round him.
"But how did you….? Grandma, don't tell me you abseiled down here!"
"I certainly did not, young man. Virgil kindly gave us all a lift down in the rescue cage below Thunderbird 2. Nasty, smelly machine but it did the job."
"You did all this for me?" said Scott, still slightly bemused.
"Modesty, doesn't suit you," replied Gordon, pushing a can of cold beer into his brother's hand. "Just enjoy yourself for once."
And finally Scott took Gordon's advice and had some fun.
THE END